In 2025, fire departments serving Croswell responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $750K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
88 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022* | 10 | — | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 36 | — |
* Well below Croswell's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 14 building fires Croswell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 42 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Wall assembly | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 16.7% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Croswell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Candle | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Croswell departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Croswell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 22 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 811 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 116 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 70 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 66 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 40 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 37 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 36 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30 | 11.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 48422 | 88 |
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Croswell. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Croswell.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.